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Information Architecture and SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

• Getting inside your audience’s head

What is an Information Architect?

• Put simply, an information architect is a person who designs a website in a such a way that any information it contains will be impossible to miss by anyone who is looking for it. A website that is properly designed by an IA will blend seamlessly with these results, becoming a virtual extension of the search engine itself. The purpose is not to drive traffic to your site “no matter what.” A skilled IA will design a structure that naturally attracts those whose desires match the information you offer, no matter how narrow or broad your target audience.
• Thousand products –> user only wants one specific product <– IA’s responsibility is to bring or give that specific product. While it is important to minimize the number of “clicks” a user will need to make before finding the information he/she was looking for, it is just important to instill a sense of confidence that there is a coherent structure to the information. The more clearly the user understands the structure itself, the more likely the user is to stay for as long as necessary.
• A Big Plus on On-Page Optimization

Site Heat Maps for better Ad Placement

Heat map is an attempt to visualize the current trend in banner advertising. It shows where the user usually give focus and this would be a pattern worth studying in placing ads in way that it doesn’t distract the reader and the same time it gives them options to be open to other stimuli and click on the advertisement that relates to the content itself. For a better ad placement using eye tracking study, ads perform in the left hand column over the right column of a page. The right column is treated by users as an “after-thought” area and should be design with that in mind. Text ads are less distracting and good camouflage with page. Placed near your normal links (navigation, etc). Image ads for advertisement or sponsor links notices usually engined by rotation scripts.

By studying your audience’s behaviour, we could assess in our own analytics way of improving our website by giving them information that they want. Not because we want traffic, if all protocols are met then obviously monetization follows due to quality content. The following points are good study for both web designers and content writers.

Now for reading web content the dominant reading pattern is F-Shaped.

1. Users first read in horizonal movement.
2. Users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second horizontal movement that covers a shorter area.
3. Users scan the content’s left side in a vertical movement.

* Suggests that users won’t read your text thoroughly in a word-by-word manner. Exhaustive reading is rare, some people will read more but most won’t. They’ll probably read more of the first paragraph than the second. Start subheads, paragraphs, and bullet points with information-carrying words that users will notice when scanning down the left side of your content.

* Points to remember: Larger type promotes lighter scanning. Most reading behaviour consists of skimming and scanning. If you want to slow your users down, use smaller fonts. User larger fonts to help them cover more territory. Navigation placed at the top of a homepage performed best. Shorter paragraphs performed better than longer ones (usually designed for people with short-attention span). Standard one-column format performed better in terms of number eye fixations. Close proximity to popular editorial content helped ads get seen, and creates the conditions that they will be open to other stimuli (advertising, cross-selling, etc.) Bigger ads better chance of being see. Add visual content images for better understanding of the content (some are dumb, so feed them).

What does SEO / SEM has to do with this?

• Getting visibility through SEO and using Search Engine Marketing for traffic conversions.
• Usability - create a logical information architecture that will make sense to users.
• Rankings - intelligent content structure. Ensure you’re giving the right pages the right amount of emphasis.
• Conversions - walk the user through conversion process, offering informative pages, begin buying cycle content and moves to purchasing process.

Not So Latest Trends

Microblogging workarounds and marketing techniques

• I coined this one, “services within services. By enabling other social networks or microblogs to gain access or manipulate data and transfer them to other social networks. example: Posting Plurk entries and allowing it to update through Twitter, Facebook, Multiply, etc.
• “Tweet this post” technique + deep-linking + related articles plugin - it gives enough visibility not only to your current entries but to your older posts also. It gives enough amount of juice to your inactive articles.
• Twitter follow back - there are lots of web apps that gives this kind of service even if your not on your desktop, it automates checking for new twitter friends that follows you and your account automatically follows them back. Most twitter users use this service for their marketing purposes, so imagine how much work it saves you from adding followers plus it gives you enough crowd for you to share your voice.
• Twitter Directory - remember old school directory submission for blogs? Well, this service is pretty much the same. Microblogs has their own niche too. Just add your account to its designated category and let people add you with same interest as yours.
• Link Building with Real Estate agent’s profiles, travelpods, etc. I got a whistle from a friend that real estate agent profiles are now on a link juice spree. As well as those travel-thingy websites. You’ll know when you see one.

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